Automatically operating counting mechanism, more particularly for counting rows of stitches on hand knitting machines



. SCHURICH 3,021,061

H AUTOMATICALLY OPERATING COUNTING MECHANISM, MORE Feb. 13, 1962 PARTICULARLY FOR COUNTING ROWS OF STITCHES ON HAND KNITTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 2, 1959 I I T Feb. 13, 1962 H. SCHURICH 3,021,061

AUTOMATICALLY OPERATING COUNTING MECHANISM, MORE PARTICULARLY FOR COUNTING ROWS 0F STITCHES ON HAND KNITTING MACHINES Filed March 2, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 States Patent AUTOMATICALLY OPERATING COUNTING MECHANISM, MORE PARTICULARLY FOR COUNTING ROWS OF STITCHES ON HAND KNITTING MACHINES Herbert Schurich, Berlin-Frohnau, Germany, assignor to Karl Steinhof Apparatefabrik, Berlin, Germany Filed Mar. 2, 1959, Ser. No. 796,400 Claims priority, application Germany Mar. 7, 1958 2 Claims. (Cl. 235-91) This invention relates to an automatically operating counting mechanism, more particularly for counting rows of stitches on hand knitting machines.

Automatically operating counting mechanisms on hand knitting machines are known; in the known arrangements, a counting mechanism is arranged on the slide of the hand knitting machine, and during the reciprocating movements of the slide over the needle bed a projection or a cam acts on the counting mechanism in such a manner that a counting ope-ration takes place whenever the slide and counting mechanism are moved over this projection. Usually these projections are arranged in the middle of the needle bed. But this has the disadvantage that in those cases in which the knitting width is located to the right or to the left of this projectionit is'necessary to make a stroke which passes beyond the projection located in the middle and which is unnecessarily large when considered purely from the point of view of the knitting process. A further disadvantage is that an operator knitting without careful attention can easily forget to move the slide beyond the projection, since the operator is attending solely to the knitting process and moves the slide only over the knitting width located laterally of'the projection. In this case, the count is wrong.

In order to avoid these disadvantages, it has been'proposed to arrange the cam displaceably on the needle bed so that the cam can be adjusted to the appropriate point depending on where the knitting process is going on. But this arrangement also has not been found completely satisfactory, because the cam has to be shifted on each occasion and therefore in this case also it is necessary to rely on the dependability of the operator, who can easily forget to shift the cam to the proper place.

All of these disadvantages are avoided by means of the present invention, according to which a frame in the form of a casing is provided on the slide, and a roller is mounted in this casing so as to be movable therein longitudinally of the slide, and during the reciprocating movements of the slide this roller on the one hand rolls on a rolling track arranged on the needle bed and on the other hand rolls at the top on a cam member which is also loose in the casing and is directed towards the roller, and the cam member is thereby caused to move upwards and downwards and therebyto act on the actuating member of the counter and bring about the counting operation.

It is advisable, according to a further feature of the invention, to provide the roller with two stud axles one on each side, which engage in corresponding recesses extending over almost the whole length of the frame and bounded by an abutment which is in the form of a shoulder extending over almost the whole length of the frame, so that the roller is secured against falling out of the frame.

It is advisable to make the cam member symmetrical about its centre, so that the cam member will always be lifted and the counting mechanism thereby actuated during movement of the slide in either direction.

The apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention has the advantage that the counting operation is effected quite independently of whereabouts on the needle bed the knitting process is going 011, provided only that the slide makes reciprocating movements during the knitting process. This arises from the fact that in a cer- I 2 t. tain sense the projection, that is to say the cam member located in the frame, is not arranged in a fixed position on the slide as in the previously known counting apparatus but is moved to and fro together with the slide and counter. The fact that actuating of the counter is nevertheless" possible arises from the characteristic rolling movement of the roller mounted in the frame.

An embodiment of theinvention chosen by way of example is particularly described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIGURE 1 is a view of a counting apparatus for knitting machines, partly in elevation and partly in longitudinal section,

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the apparatus shown, in FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a view partly in elevation and partly in cross section on line IIIIII of FIGURE 2,

FIGURE 4 is an end elevation of the counting appara-' tus mounted on a knitting machine, of which certain parts are shown in section, and

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the arrangement shown FIGURE 4.

The counting apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention comprises a frame 1 in the form of a casing with a central aperture 2 passing through the frame from top to bottom. In the side walls 3 of this frame 1, recesses 4 are provided which extend over almost the whole length of the frame and are bounded at the bottom by a shoulder abutment 5 and on the two narrow sides by abutments 6 which project towards the middle of the recess 2 of the frame. j 1 p A roller 26 withtwo stub axles 7 is inserted into the" interior of the frame; thesestub axles 7 canroll along'on the shoulder abutment 5, so that the roller is prevented from falling downwards out of the frame. On the other hand the distance of the shoulder abutment 5 from the bottom edge 8 of the frame is made such that when roller 26 rolls along on the shoulder abutment 5 the roller periphery projects slightly below the bottom edge 8 of the frame. Also, the movement of the roller 26 in the longitudinal direction is limited by the abutments 6 against which the stub axles bear when in their extreme positions. The roller is provided, on its periphery, with a rubber ring 9 engaging in a channel.

A step abutment 12 is provided near the top end of the inner surface 11 of each end wall 10 of the frame; the ends 13 of a cam member 14 are supported on these step abutments. This cam member is made symmetrical about its centre line 15; it is provided with two downwardly directed run-up ramps 16 at an obtuse angle to one another. The peak 17 of the cam member, which projects furthest downwards, is in the middle of the cam member. The whole top surface of the cam member is flat.

The run-up ramps 16 do not extend over the whole length of the cam member but merge into flat end surfaces extending parallel to the top surface 19 of the cam member.

The frame 1 is closed at the top by a cover 20 on which a counter 21 of known construction is mounted. A counter provided with a plunger pin 22 has been found particularly advantageous. The plunger pin passes through a bore 23 in the cover 20 and touches the top surface 19 of the cam member. As shown in FIGURES 4 and 5, the counter has a number of counting discs 28 which are rotatable about axes and are visible through windows 29 provided in the casing of the counter 21.

The frame 1 is secured laterally to the lock plate 30 of the lock 24. The lock plate 30 has angularly bent portions 31 engaging in external guiding grooves in lock guiding rails 32 secured to the top side of the needle bed 27. Sinkers 34 are mounted for pivotal movement within slots 33 of the needle bed. Latch needles 35 are arranged so as to be easily displaceable in further slots between the sinkers 34. A cam 37 mounted in the lock casing acts on the inner ends 36 of the sinkers 34, and during the movements of the lock each sinker impinging against the cam is pivotally moved by the cam. A cam disc 38 used for adjusting parts of the lock, and a handle 39 used for moving the lock, are secured to the lock 24.

The frame 1 is secured to the lock 24 in such a manner that when the lock is set in place on the knitting apparatus the bottom edge 8 of the frame is slightly above a rail 25 secured to the needle bed of the apparatus. In this position, the rubber coating 9 of the loose roller 26 rests on the rail 25 and there is a slight gap between the topmost point of the roller and the flat end 18 of the cam member.

The manner of operation of the apparatus is as follows:

If the slide is first moved in the direction of the arrow A during the knitting process, the roller 26 rolls on the rail 25 and at the same time the stub axles 7 move in the direction of the arrow Brelatively to the frame 1. This causes the top of the roller to leave one of the flat end surfaces 18 and run on to one of the ramps 16, rolling on this ramp. Because of the inclination of the ramp the left hand part of the cam member 14 disposed loosely in the frame is first lifted until it touches the bottom surface of the cover 20. Then, as the slide continues to move, the right hand end of the cam member is also lifted and the plunger pin 22 is moved upwards whereby the counter is actuated. In the meantime the roller has rolled past the peak point 17 of the cam member and rolls off on the other ramp, and finally reaches the right-hand position shown in broken lines, in which the top edge of the roller is underneath the right hand end surface 18. At the same time, the stub axles 7 now bear against the right hand step abutment 6, so that as the slide continues to move the roller rolls in the apex of the angle between the shoulder abutment 5 and the step abutment 6 without imparting any movement to the cam member. Instead, both ends of the cam member rest on the abutments 12. It is only when a change of direction of the movement of the slide takes place that the roller will again move in the frame in the manner described above, but from right to left, and the cam member will again be lifted and the counter actuated.

From this description of the manner of operation it will at once be clear that the counter is actuated whenever a change in the direction of movement of the slide takes place, irrespectively of the width of the knitting and of the location of the knitting on the needle bed.

I claim:

1. An automatically operated counting mechanism for counting rows of stitches on hand knitting machines provided with a needle bed, comprising a reciprocating slide, a casing secured to said slide, a loosely mounted cam member adapted for up and down movement in said casing, a rolling track arranged on said needle bed, a roller mounted in said casing for longitudinal displacement on said rolling track and on said cam member to cause said cam member to move upwardly and downwardly upon longitudinal displacement thereof, a counter mechanism secured to said casing, said mechanism including a counter actuating pin in contact with said cam member.

2. A counting mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein said casing is provided with recesses extending the length of the casing, and shoulder abutments extending parallel to the bottom edge of said casing, said roller being provided with stub axles, and said cam member being formed as a downwardly directed wedge-like ramp.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,002,175 OSbOI'H Aug. 29, 1911 1,294,700 Peterson Feb. 18, 1919 1,554,709 Brown Sept. 22, 1925 1,732,706 Wiles .Oct. 22, 1929 

